Animal Collective Nouns

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Animal Collectives: Can you find a company of parrots on your next tour of Tambopata?

By Susan Walker

 

 

One of the guides asked me the other day what a group of frogs is called, as in Spanish it translates to a congress. To be honest, I didn’t even know a group of parrots had their own collective name. Here are a few others:

●      An army of frogs

●      A knot or lump of toads

●      A school of fish

●      A gaggle of geese

●      A flock of birds

●      A crash of rhinos

●      A pod of whales

●      A herd of cattle

●      A pride of lions

●      A cloud of gnats

●      A swarm of insects

 

Here is a list of Bird collectives, terms that you can use to describe a group of like bird species.

 

●      A ballet of swans

●      A bazaar of guillemots

●      A bevy of quail [or swans]

●      A bouquet of pheasants [when flushed]

●      A brace of grouse

●      A brood of hens

●      A building of rooks

●      A cast of hawks [or falcons]

●      A charm of finches

●      A colony or huddle of penguins

●      A company of parrots

●      A congregation of plovers

●      A convocation of eagles

●      A cote of doves

●      A cover of coots

●      A covey of partridges [or grouse or ptarmigans]

●      A deceit of lapwings

●      A descent of woodpeckers

●      A dole of doves

●      An exaltation of larks

●      A fall of woodcocks

●      A flamboyance or ostentation of peacocks

●      A flight of swallows [or doves, goshawks, or cormorants]

●      A fling of dunlin

●      A gaggle of geese [wild or domesticated]

●      A host of sparrows

●      A kettle of hawks [riding a thermal]

●      A murmuration of starlings

●      A murder or congress of crows

●      A muster of storks [or turkeys]

●      A nye of pheasants [on the ground]

●      A paddling of ducks [on the water]

●      A parliament of owls [or rooks]

●      A party of jays

●      A peep of chickens

●      A pitying of turtledoves

●      A plump of waterfowl

●      A raft of ducks [on water]

●      A rafter of turkeys

●      A sedge of cranes

●      A siege of herons

●      A skein of geese [in flight]

●      A sord of mallards

●      A spring of teal

●      A tiding of magpies

●      A trip of dotterel

●      An unkindness of ravens

●      A watch of nightingales

●      A wedge of swans

●      A wisp of snipe

 

Now we just need a few suggestions for some more local birds of Tambopata like tanagers and oropendulas. I suggest a spark of tanagers as they flitter around in a range of colours like the sparks from a fireworks show. As for oropendulas, a somersault would go some way to describing their dance when they call. Any other suggestions?